Liquid circulating cooler



Jan. 21, 1941. 5.. MILLIGAN 2,229,597

LIQUID cmcunume coomn Filed April 24, 1939 'TIE 5 INVENTUR.

Patented Jan. 21, 1941 LIQUID CIRCULATING COOLER Edward Milligan, Oklahoma City, Okla.; Cassius Ayers Milligan executor of said Edward Milligan, deceased Application April 24, 1939, Serial No. 269,819

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a circulating system, and means thereto pertaining, for causing a continous circulation of water in vats designed to cool containers submerged in the water.

An object of the invention is to force water through opposed trends in the vat, and through trends along the lower and the upper strata in the water.

Another object of the invention is to provide a direct-drive media for the circulating element, and to provide novel means for supporting the direct-driving media.

Other objects of the invention will appear. 15 On the drawing, accompanying and forming a part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the device, showing the vat, the circulator, and the circulator driving means.

Figure 2 is a lateral sectional view with the circulator driving means omitted.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the driving means, supporting means therefor, and an assembly collar for attaching the supporting means to the rest of the assembly.

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the circulating trends.

In these several views, similar characters of reference will indicate similar parts.

30 A water-vat is constituted of the usual sides 5, end walls 6, and bottom I. This construction may or may not be covered, as desired, and also may be dimensionally adjusted to provide convenience for the purposes for which it is intended.

35 Disposed substantially central of the vat, and extending in the same in parallelism with the side walls 5, is a partition 8, which terminates short of one of the end walls 6, to provide a crosssectional passage 9 to permit the water to circu 40 late to each side of said partition 8.

In one corner of the vat, and located between one of the side walls 5 and the partition 8, is a circulating chamber Ill, divided substantially centrally by a horizontal partition I l, forming 45 two circulating chambers 2 and I3, the latter having an intake opening I 4 which registers with a corresponding opening I5 in the adjacent end of the partition 8.

Within the circulating chamber l0, and in the partition II, is a hatch l6, extending above and below the horizontal partition H, and in this hatch I6, revolves a suction and exhaust propeller, with blades H, by which the water is both drawn into the circulating chamber Ill through the openings l4 and I5 and from one side of the partition 8, and forced up through the hatch I6 and against the bafiie |8 of circulator I0 and out again through the opening l9 above the horizontal partition II and along the opposite side of the partition 8. This provides for drawing the Water in the direction of the dotted arrows and along one side of the partition 8, and forcing the water out through the opening I9 in the direction of the solidly shown arrows on the opposite side of said partition 8, the water passing around the partition 8 through the channel 9.

The propeller blades radiate from a hub 20 which is carried by a shaft 2| which is either operated directly from the motor 22, or may be coupled to a motor-shaft 23, by a coupling 24, so that if wear develops, or there develops any misalignment in the shaft-train, the difference may be compensated for by the coupling 24.

Passing through an opening in the bottom 1 of the vat, is an exteriorly screw-threaded spud 25, having a head 26, overmounting a gasket 21, and this spud extends sufiiciently below the bottom I of the vat to permit the application thereto of a collar 28 internally screw-threaded to allow the collar to be drawn up on the spud thus drawing the head 26 down on the gasket 21, and impinging a gasket 29 between the collar 28 and the bottom I, to prevent both a relative movement of the assembled parts, and leakage about those parts.

Within the spud 25 is a gland for receiving a packing 30 for the shaft 2|, and a pressure-spud 3| is forced into the gland, to compress the packing, by a nut 32. This will prevent leaking along the surface of the shaft 2| and through the gland in the spud 25.

Should, however, the nut 32 and spud 3| become loosened, any dripping or sweating may be caught by a deflector 33 mounted upon the shaft, or upon the coupling 24.

The motor 22 is suspended in axial alignment with the bore of the spud 25, by equidistantly and radially disposed struts 34 secured to, or forming a part of the collar 28, and to the motor 22. This manner of mounting the motor will insure a definite axial alignment of the shaft 2| with the bore of the spud 25, thus preventing undue resistance and wear, or the misalignment of shafts 2| and 23, which would produce a like result.

Furthermore, the direct drive from the motor 22 to the propeller blades I1 gives a more eflicient result than the usual gear assembly.

The submerging of the propeller blades I! in the fluid sets up a high resistance to the propeller movement, and the direct-drive will increase the propelling pressure, and speed of circulation. In this connection also, it is worth while to note that the intermediate position of the blades H, with relation to the hatch-wall, will insure the proper suctional efficiency of the propeller.

It will be noted that through this simple yet effective instrumentality, water in a cooling vat is forced through opposed and diversified trends by means of suction and exhaust persuasion of an highly efficient order.

If containers to be cooled in the water in the vat are labeled with pasted paper labels, and these labels become loosened by the water, the propeller blades I! will disintegrate them into particles, and thus preventing clogging in the circulator chamber l0.

Having thus set forth the invention, 1 claim:

A cooler comprising a tank; a vertical partition dividing the tank into two longitudinal passageways which communicate around one end of said partition only; a circulating chamber within the tank located at the closed end of one of said passageways, and having a horizontal partition dividing it into an upper and a lower compartment; a centrally positioned vertically disposed hatch within said chamber affording open communication between said upper and lower compartments; a bladed axial flow circulator element in said hatch for moving fluid from said lower compartment into said upper compartment; a liquid inlet opening in a side Wall of the lower compartment and an aligned opening in said partition affording direct lateral horizontal communication between one of said longitudinal passageways and the said lower compartment only; an outlet opening in an end wall of said upper compartment affording direct longitudinal horizontal communication between that compartment and the other of said passageways; and means for rotating said circulator element.

EDWARD MILLIGAN. 

